The circumstances of the remnant in the last days under oppression

In Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 we enter historically on the
circumstances of the remnant in the last days in the land. The
great principles having been laid down (the remnant Messiah trial
in the midst of Israel through His rejection a path He had learnt
in person glory in the Son of man), we get in these a preface as
regards the circumstances, a laying of them down, that the scene of
the exercises, the state of things which gives rise to these, and
the deliverance wrought by the judgment of God, may be plainly
before us.

We may remark here, in confirmation of previously expressed
judgments, that the righteous man, Messiah, according to the
counsels of God, but rejected (with the consequent sorrows of the
remnant into which He thus enters), and in result glorified as Son
of man, and set over all the works of God's hands, having been
brought before us in the first eight psalms, we find ourselves at
once (when entering on the historical detail of circumstances) in
the last days, the righteous remnant being under the oppression of
the wicked and the heathen. Messiah, in Spirit, in the oppressed
remnant, owns the righteousness of Jehovah, in judgment, sitting on
the throne judging right.

The righteousness of God established in a heavenly way

Remark the great difference here, in passing, between the
celebration of the righteousness of God, sitting in the throne,
judging right, and vindicating the righteous man from the
oppressor, and Christ on the cross, who was not vindicated on the
earth, but declares Himself forsaken of God (His enemies,
outwardly, having all their will against Him), and then
righteousness being established in a heavenly way, God's
righteousness in setting Him at His own right hand in the heavenly
places. "Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me
no more." As regards this righteousness, He was taken completely
out of the world, so that the disciples as in flesh, as was the
case with the Jews saw Him no more. He had glorified God, and was
glorified in God, as God has been in Him. The righteousness which
judged the oppressor, though executed by God who alone is really
righteous and has power, had its sphere and measure in earthly
government, and in discerning the righteous and the wicked among
men, the oppressed and the oppressor. It was connected with the
righteous government of God. The clear apprehension of this
difference is a key to the whole frame of thought in the Psalms.

Various hebrew words translated (people)

Another point, it may be useful to remark, is this. In the
English translation several words are translated people: Am* in the
singular, people, or Ammi** my people (Israel): Goim*** heathens or
nations, that is, those outside, who are in contrast with Israel as
the people of God. Israel is so designated to mark its guilt, Psalm
43: 1. Leummim**** the peoples and nations in general on the earth,
the various races of mankind; 'Ammim***** peoples in the plural, I
think the nations viewed in connection with Israel restored and
taken into relationship with Jehovah.

{*Psalm 3: 6.}

{**Psalm 3: 8 (here "thy people," the same practically).}

{***Psalm 2: 8. The Hebrew references are to the verses in
Hebrew.}

{****Psalm 7: 7.}

{*****Psalm 7: 8.}

Jehovah, the most high, a refuge, delivering by judgment

To turn now to the psalms before us: Psalm 9 presents to us
Jehovah, the Most High (the names of God which connect themselves
with the Jews, and the millennial accomplishment of the promises
made to Abraham), delivering the people by judgment from the
oppression of the heathen, and destroying the wicked. The delivered
Jew celebrates this goodness which has maintained the right and
cause of the righteous. The Spirit of Christ speaks fully in this,
as having taken up their interests. It is really His right. If the
Jew has any, it is through Him. If they say it, He has put the
words in their mouth. Indeed, if Christ had not entered into their
sorrow, and given them these words, they could not have said, My
right.

Let us consider this (as to circumstances) first leading psalm
with somewhat more detail. The humble and oppressed one praises God
with his whole heart, under the double name of Jehovah and Most
High.* The turning back of his enemies is not merely a human
victory. They fall and perish before the presence of Jehovah
Elohim. But this was to maintain the right and cause of the godly
one really the right and cause of Christ, who had thus thrown
Himself into their portion in gracious sympathy. In verse 6 a very
important principle is brought out for faith at all times, then to
be verified in fact. The efforts of the enemy here are for time. He
can destroy, if God allow, present prosperity. The Lord endures for
ever. We have only to do His will by the way. He has always His way
at the end. That will which we do by the way, perhaps in sorrow and
suffering then, will surely reign at the end of the
way. Destructions were now to come to a perpetual end the cities
and their memory had been destroyed. Jehovah endures for ever.

{*These names are not without importance. One is the abiding
name of God in Israel, His memorial for ever; the other, the
millennial name of God introduced by the judgments spoken of in the
psalm. Compare Psalm 91 and Genesis 14: 19, 20.We have heard of the patience of Job that was by the way; we
have seen the end of the Lord that is the ground for faith. It
walks with Him who certainly has the end at His command. He shall
endure for ever has prepared His throne for judgment. He will judge
the world universal in righteousness, and minister judgment to the
peoples in uprightness. This was the public character of
Jehovah. But there was a private part of His character, so to
speak, the making of which however also public, is the great
subject of the psalm; and indeed with that first public one, the
great subject of all the psalms. Both are known only to faith, but
are celebrated beforehand. This second part is this: Jehovah is a
refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. The result
is confidence in Jehovah at all times on the part of those who know
His name. The intervention of Jehovah in that day in favour of
those that seek Him will make good this name everywhere.

Praise to Him who dwells in Zion for His mercy and judgment

Another point is brought out also. Jehovah dwells in Zion as
thus revealing Himself. His doings, what He does for the display of
His name through judgment in favour of the remnant, are to be
declared among the peoples* another word than that often used, and
signifying, I apprehend, the peoples that He owns that they may be
able thus to trust in Him. He is returned thus to Zion at the
close. Verses 13, 14, are the cry of the remnant, and on the ground
of mercy, that their hearts may praise Jehovah in Zion, as well as
because of His judgments; verse 15 celebrates the judgment; and the
moral, so to speak, is told in verse 16. Jehovah is known by the
judgment which He executes. The way in which this psalm serves as a
preface for understanding the scope of the book, and its
application to the last days, is evident. Once seized, it largely
helps in the intelligence of the whole book. In verse 17 the
wicked,** be they who they may, Jew as well as Gentile, and indeed
particularly the Jew, and all the nations who forget God,*** are
shown to be rejected and judged, and to have their place in hades
by judgment. And in this God remembers the needy, for the
destruction of the wicked is their deliverance. Hence for this, for
Jehovah to arise, is the cry of the remnant. This feature explains
certain expressions in the psalms to which I have before alluded
the demand for judgment. Compare the characters of the judged ones
in Romans 1, 2. Only there the wrath is from heaven, not
governmental on earth from Zion; and a greater moral development
will be found, as was to be expected, and not the external judgment
of nations.****

{*Ammim, v. 11. Leummim, v. 8.}

{**Here in the plural. The difference is sometimes important,
because, as Paul says, there is that wicked one.}

{***Had not liked to retain God in their knowledge.}

{****In Revelation 4 are found the characters of the seraphim
as well as of the cherubim, as prefacing, I believe, the judgments
there, as characterised as being according to the holy nature of
God as well as governmental. It is true the application of Isaiah
6, where alone the seraphim are found, is to a governmental
judgment, because grace preserved a remnant. But the
incompatibility of Jehovah and uncleanness with man in himself is
what the prophet sees.}

The state of things in the last days till Jehovah arises to judgment

The body of Psalm 10 depicts the state of things in the last
days, until Jehovah arises to judgment, and more especially the
character of the wicked, for he is known by his character, and is
especially to be found in the Jew. Compare Isaiah 40-48 and 49-58:
in the one passage, the question being particularly idolatry and
Babylon; in the second, the rejection of Messiah (the two capital
sins which bring the Jews to judgment Jehovah, and His
Anointed). The wicked in his pride acts upon that which is seen; as
the righteous by faith on the character of Jehovah, faith in
Him. The wicked boasts himself in his heart's desire, and blesses
him (counts him happy, that is) whom Jehovah abhors. He pursues his
plans without conscience, seeking to destroy the humble by craft,
and reckons that God has forgotten him. How well Christ could help
them here! The humble cry under the oppression. Why does Jehovah
stand afar off, and hide Himself in the time of trouble?

They were far indeed from being where Christ was, yet the
shadow, so to speak, of that sorrow was passing over them, but they
could hope in God. So in verse 12. They call upon God to lift up
His hand not forget the humble: why should the wicked contemn God?
Jehovah has seen it and will requite; the poor committed himself to
Him. Verse 16 to the end celebrates Jehovah's coming in in reply,
and its results. Jehovah is King for ever; the heathen are perished
out of His land. There is the public judgment; now the secret of
the Lord. Jehovah has heard the desire of the humble. He prepared
their heart, and then hearkened; and that hearing will be in
judging, in being Judge for the fatherless and the oppressed, so
that the man of the earth, he who had his strength and hope there,
should no more oppress.

The heathen and the wicked characterised in psalms 9 and 10

One or two remarks are required on both psalms. There are two
parties, and in a certain sense three, besides the poor humbled
remnant who wait upon God: the heathen (Goim), strangers to Israel,
who oppress them, enemies of God; and the wicked, then more
especially among the Jews, as we have seen. I have said three,
because the wicked are spoken of in a double way. In general,
indeed exclusively so in Psalm 10 and each time it is used in Psalm
9, except verse 17, it is in the singular. In verse 17 it is
plural, to show that all of them will be cast down into sheol. In
the singular it is, I judge, characteristic; yet I doubt not, there
will be one special wicked one The Lawless One, 2 Thess. 2: 8; the
Antichrist, but known here certainly by his character, not by a
distinct prophecy of his person. The lawlessness is manifested, but
not The Lawless One, and it is not confined to one. The analogy of
this, with the circumstances in which Christ was in His rejection
on earth, is very plain, as is the case with all the forms of
wickedness. The very Trinity is imitated in mischief in the
Apocalypse. There is the city of corruption, as the bride of
Christ; and so on.

Up to this, save as the Messiah of God's counsels was brought
out in Psalm 2, the righteous man was given characteristically, and
here it was necessary to characterise the whole party opposed to
Jehovah and His Christ, though one may be the concentrated
expression of this character. The remnant were to judge by this
character morally. Next, remark, these wicked ones are judged with
the heathen; they all come together under the same judgment. The
wicked shall be turned into "sheol," and all the heathen who forget
God. So verse 5: "Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast
destroyed the wicked." Psalm 9 is, as we have seen, the general
view of Jehovah's intervention in judgment. In Psalm 10 we have
particularly the position of the sorrow and trial of the remnant
within. Hence we find the wicked (man), not the heathen until on
the execution of judgment they are found too to have perished out
of Jehovah's land, so as to identify the judgment with the general
statements of Psalm 9. How completely this all answers to the
history we have of the latter days, I need not say.